Jennifer Rubin is a real piece of work. Let’s take a look at part of her Washington Post piece on Mitt Romney’s visit to Israel.
Without specifically criticizing President Obama in his speech in Jerusalem, Mitt Romney delivered a blow to the Obama campaign’s frantic efforts to defend the president’s hostile stance toward the Jewish state simply by saying: “It is a deeply moving experience to be in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel.” The Obama administration can’t even say that much, a sign of how reflectively protective of the Palestinians’ sensibilities is this president. Of course, Jerusalem is the capital. It was declared so in 1948. The Knesset is there. The disposition of its borders is a matter for final status negotiation, but only an uninformed or virulently insensitive administration would be unable to distinguish the two.
Okay. First we have the idea that the Obama administration is hostile to Israel based on their refusal to call Jerusalem the capital of Israel. Let’s deal with some facts. In 2002, Congress passed a bill that would allow American citizens who were born in Jerusalem to put the word ‘Israel’ on their passport. This was in response to State Department policy that neither Jordan nor Israel be listed on such passports. George W. Bush signed the bill but he issued a signing statement declaring that the language on Jerusalem was unconstitutional.
Section 214(d) sought to override this instruction by allowing citizens born in Jerusalem to have “Israel” recorded on their passports if they wish. In signing the Foreign Relations Authorization Act into law, President George W. Bush stated his belief that §214 “impermissibly interferes with the President’s constitutional authority to conduct the Nation’s foreign affairs and to supervise the unitary executive branch.”
The case wound up at the Supreme Court, which ruled that the bill is constitutional and remanded it back to the lower courts to reconsider the merits of the case. But the point is that President Bush refused to obey part of a law that he signed because it instructed the State Department to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Was this evidence that George W. Bush was hostile to Israel?
Ms. Rubin says that of course Jerusalem is the capital of Israel because it was declared the capital in 1948. But, by whom was it declared the capital? Because the United Nations certainly did not declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel in 1948, or at any other time. The United Nations officially considers Jerusalem to be a corpus separatum, or entity unto itself.
Considering that no U.S. government has ever legally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, hasn’t our whole political establishment been “uninformed or virulently insensitive” to Israel for over 60 years now?
But if it’s rhetorical support Ms. Rubin wants, she should remember 2008, when Obama said the following:
“Let me be clear,” Obama said, “Israel’s security is sacrosanct. It is non-negotiable. The Palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive and that allows them to prosper. But any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel’s identity as a Jewish state, with secure, recognized and defensible borders. Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided,” he added, in efforts to secure the Jewish vote.
So, in essence, when it comes to talking about Jerusalem, Romney is not much different from Obama who is not much different from the lesser Bush. The entirely of Ms. Rubin’s column is a calumnious lie.
